New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-09-11
TILE HNMlKRIED GIRLS.

| Boston newspaper writer recently met
| ia Ncw-England town woman VINO had
| kept for number OF years record Oh the
Girls graduated from the high school Of the
village. and their lives after leaving school.
| The FIRST striking fact in this record was the
| growing number OF those who remained UNI
married. Eleven years have elapsed since
the last of the classes was graduated, and
il is fair. therefore. to assume that their
lives are well marked out by this time. The
first class recorded had 10 members. 10 oil
whom are unmarried; of the second, 10 out oil
| l6 are unmarried; in the third. IS out OF H.
and so on. Out Of total OF so graduates
| III arc still single, - are married, and IL, III
| il of some interest to add, are dead OF con-
sumption. prey to the bitter winds OF the
| New En- gland winter. OF the 81 unmarried
| graduates, 81 are schooEtcacbers, arc type
settlers, / is proof-rcadcr, l is head dress
maker in dry goods house, ! are dressmakers'
3 mtrsic-teachers, has studied medicine and,
Is work in shoe shops. Only II. or hardly
one-fifth Of the whole number are Chased as
stay-at- homcs.n These evidently did not
need to work for a living, and ii is lair to
assume that a good proportion, at least, had
home duties which would take the place Tor
them OF more active career outside.
| Statistics of this kind are usually received
with an air that implies commiseration for SD
many young women who have failed to lind
husbands. But il it not true that the old
theory that marriage is indispensable to n
woman, while it is perhaps only desirable for
a man, is losing some of its force? We are
inclined to believe that these figures, and
many like them which could no doubt be had
for the trying, prove it. Marriage IS, OF
course, the natural state Of both sexes, and
so long as woman is the weaker vessel" and
so long as the affections are the dominating
force Of her charactcr.-that is to say, so long
as men and women exist, marriage Will seem
more desirable to women, taking the general
average Of mankind, than to men. But the
signs of the times are lost on those who do not
sec that women are gaining day by day
broader and Grmer footbOd Of their own, and
independent of men, in modern life. 1t Is no
longer universally conceded, as it was once,
that woman's career necessarily begins and
ends in the home. Women are pushing them
selves into great number of trades and Occu-
pations where their presence would not have
been tolerated generation ago. This is per-
haps more strlkingly true in England than
here. table published some years ago Of
the number Of women in England following
occupations of light and agreeable kind.
such as post-olice clerks and the like, made
surprising showing. The Ncw-England list
given above is another instance in point.
Four-ffths Of these girls are engaged in active
and useful careers. No such proportion we
venture to say, would have been seen in that
section twenty-five years ago.
It would be mistake to ascribc all this to
the pressure Of necessity. Women are seeking
occupations more and moro because there is
growing feeling Of dissatisfaction among
the sex with tho inert and de-
pendent attitude too often assigned
TO them In the economy of life.
They are forcing their way into tho colleges,
studying professions, competing with men in
many occupations where their greater quick
ness and readiness give them the advantage,